By NATALIA HAWK
Meet Peter Lloyd. He’s a London-based reporter that writes for the Daily Mail. And he’s suing his local gym for discrimination, because he evidently has a bit of spare time – and money – on his hands.
You see, Kentish Town Sports Centre in North London have introduced women’s-only fitness sessions. According to their website – for a few hours on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, only women are permitted in the pool. And on Thursday nights, from 6:00-7:30pm, only women can access the Fitness Center.
Peter didn’t like that. Hence the whole suing-for-discrimination thing.
In his article for the Daily Mail, he says:
“In an age of political over-correctness, they ban all men and boys for 442 hours every year – simply because they are male.
Adding insult to injury, they still charge them the same full-price membership fee as women, but refuse to offer the equivalent option of male-only sessions.
Not only is this an outrageous business model, but it’s also sexist. Especially given that council officials base it almost solely on women’s needs. Fair? I think not.”
How do I put this gently: CRY ME A FREAKING RIVER, PETER.
Did you know that in Saudi Arabia, women still aren’t allowed to drive? That millions of young girls around the world are still subject to female genital mutilation? That in India, sexual violence is on the rise and is not taken seriously as a crime?
But who cares about any of those things when you can get outraged about the 1.5 hours per week (out of the 168 hours in a week) that you can’t access a fitness centre? Or the 6 hours you can’t get to the swimming pool?
To me, it seems a little extreme to liken it to “”when African Americans were separated from their caucasian peers in 1940s America”.
Anyway – there’s no explanation for the Sport Centre’s decision on their site, but they DID send Peter an email. Apparently, the Centre’s reasoning is based on a report by the Women Sport and Fitness Foundation which found that 26 per cent of women “hate the way they look when they exercise”, and “feel even more self-conscious when taking part in sport and physical activity when men are present”.
Top Comments
If it is acceptable to have women-only gyms, then it is acceptable to have clubs that restrict their membership to males.
Inequality between genders is still inequality. Don't try and trivialize it just because women in other countries suffer more at the hands of harsher sexism - sexism one way or the other has no place in civilized society. How would you feel if the roles were reversed? How would you feel if men shrugged it off because 'in some countries men are victims of greater sexism (there may not be such a situation in the world, but try empathizing with this hypothetical situation)? Gender equality means equality between genders, to have it any other way is to marginalize people because of their gender.